Managers, wanna-be managers, and folks who want to understand managers simply need to read the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green and Joost Elffers. I’ve purposely not done any background research on this document because my first reaction to this list was profound and I wanted to stare at that reaction. There’s some pretty… more
Everyone at work chuckles when I, once again, tell them I was out with the chain saw this weekend. They’re laughing because they’re trying to picture their nerd boss act like a mountain man. Fact of the matter is, I am a nerd. I do call Verizon every month or so to see when they’ll… more
Somewhere in your third year of being a manager, the Management Pixies will appear in your office in a puff of sweet smelling black smoke. There will be three of them and one will be carrying a gorgeous black top hat. “Are you LeRoy McManager?” “I am.” The Pixies laugh. “Congratulations, you have passed successful… more
There’s a never ending battle going on in your software development team right now. It’s the battle between the Organic Engineers and the Mechanical Engineers and it sounds like this: Organics: “Software is art!” Mechanics: “Software is logic! It’s fact! And it’s a lot of work.” Organics: “You’re right! It’s work but it’s artful work.”… more
Lunch at Don Giovanni’s with Phillip. He’s amped. We haven’t even seen our waiter and he’s already cleared the table and is scribbling furiously on the white paper table cloth. “See, we needed to speed up our release cycle which is, of course, insane, but we figured out a way! We call it Train releases.… more
With the completion of the Fez column, I have enough content to start stitching together a book based off my various management essays. Book publishing has never been a stated goal, but based on the response to many of the articles, there’s a good chance folks outside the webosphere might find my management musings of… more
Some time during your tenure as a manager the sky is going to fall. I’m not talking about a schedule slip or a spirited meeting or being screwed. I’m talking a total disaster… yelling… fighting. Best case, HR is involved. Worst case, so are lawyers. This is conflict of a magnitude you’ll only see a… more
Stop. Grab a pencil and write down the first and last names of your past three managers. Stare at those names for a bit and re-live those months or years of reporting to this person. I want your off-the-cuff opinion about each one. My guess is your opinion falls into one the three buckets: I… more
Ed: This article assumes you’ve read Part #1. The first article finished with the big Rands revelation that it’s the manager’s job to figure out how to give Fez a swift kick in the butt. Yes, Fez needs to have the brains to listen and react to constructive advice, but that’s his deal. If I’ve… more
In your quiver of management skills, you’ve got a couple of powerful arrows. There’s the annual review where you take the time to really explain, in detail, what a given employee needs to do to grow. That’s huge. That can be life changing. That’s a big arrow. How about the layoff? That’s when you get… more